Right. This is a long-due post. I made a trip to Jogjakarta last year – my second after my first time years and years ago when my cousins still lived there. Just today, after I read about the royal wedding that will take place next week, I realised that apart from the piece about the Mendut candi and vihara, I wrote nothing more about my trip. Guiltily, I browsed my folders to find the pictures I made there.

Not too many. And I was using my old pocket camera so the quality of the pictures was somewhat I’m not too proud of. But anyway, here are some of the pictures I made in Jogjakarta and its vicinity (areas like where the Borobudur is situated are parts of the Central Java province).

The convenient night train that brought us to Jogjakarta from Jakarta.

Our breakfast one morning. Jogjakartan culinary is known for its sweet taste, so if you don’t like sweet, be warned.

Colourful, interesting old houses in the Kauman area. This is where many followers of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, reside.

The kraton mosque.

Royal carriages in the special museum.

A very old abdi dalem is showing a picture of him when he was still very young. He has served the kraton for decades.

Colours, like cultures, blend harmoniously in the kraton.

A gamelan set in the kraton.

The kraton is colourful and shows various influences.

Giant doors in the kraton.

Despite being a Muslim sultanate, the Jogjakarta kraton still reveres Hindu figures, as seen in the ‘kemenyan’ put before this Ganesha statue.

An interesting touch of the colonial style.

Visit Jogja’s sidewalks at night for street food and warm chitchat with people.

The presidential palace.

So many food to taste of Javan background in Jogjakarta!

Visit Pasar Beringhardjo for cheap local products.

A view of the Malioboro street with a TransJogja bus stop.

The giant tree on the yard of Candi Mendut.

The steps leading to the stupa of Borobudur, the single largest Buddhist monument in the world.

A view of the lands around Borobudur from the upper tiers of the candi.

The Ramayana is performed regularly in Prambanan, an ancient Hindu temple in the city.

The magnificent scene of massive fire in Ramayana.

Street names in Jogja are written in Latin and Javanese scripts like this one.

Tamansari complex, the royal baths, show Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and European influences.

A glimpse through the gates of a house near Tamansari.

The lands around Tamansari belong to the court, but abdi dalem and their families were given special privileges to build homes on them.

Masks on sale in a shop near the Tamansari complex.

Underground tunnels abound in Tamansari. There’s even an underground mosque.

Jogjakarta – home of kings past and present, a sanctuary of faiths, a refugee of the Republic during its harsh times – may you live long and prosper.